Trucking Industry Keeps Our Nation Going: Value of Truck Drivers

 

Truck drivers are committed to ensuring we have what we need with little thought to their own safety as we all endure quarantines due to the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, many people employed in the trucking industry risk their lives every day handling shipments that may be contaminated and interacting with people who may have been exposed.

Many of us may not realize just how valuable trucking is until we are faced with our own loss or have to find a way to handle shortages of products we use every day in Kansas City KS. Our food, building supplies, medical equipment, grain, sand and gravel for landscaping and construction – and everything in between – depends on the trucking industry to get it from the farmers and manufacturers to our stores and homes. For example, the recent hoarding practices of paper products and the lack of staple food items have inconvenienced most of us.

Restrictions on which businesses can remain open have also made trucking difficult, as truck drivers are forced to prepare meals in their trucks with many truck stops and restaurants shut down in an effort to slow down the coronavirus outbreak. Although fast-food restaurants offer drive-through services, this isn’t an option for truckers because of the height of their tractor cabs. Nor do most businesses have sufficient parking for large rigs.

 

To make living out of their truck and spending the bulk of their lives on the road even more challenging, with so many businesses and rest stops closed to the public, they often have the added inconvenience of not having a place to take a bathroom break or finding a place to park and sleep at night. Despite all of these challenges that truckers face on a daily basis, they are still dedicated to helping maintain as normal a way of life as possible for the rest of us.

No matter the circumstances, trucking will continue to keep America moving, getting goods into our homes, and to suppliers as quickly as they can. While we are safe at home, trucking will carry on moving a staggering two-thirds of all freight in the country, including 10 billion tons of food, toiletries, online purchases, and more to make sure Americans have what they need.